The Tribune

BY NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Government’s participation in the Expo 2020 in Dubai is part of the Christie administration’s foreign policy outreach to the Middle East, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell, who noted that the aim is to ultimately attract foreign capital and market the nation as a tourist destination.

Some 180 countries are set to participate in the expo which is expected to draw some 25 million international visitors between the October 2020 and April 2021. This, according to Minister Mitchell, provides the perfect opportunity for the nation to market itself to the Middle East as a great place to invest and a tourist destination.

The Expo will be held under the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”, with sub-themes of Sustainability, Mobility and Opportunity and is expected to coincide with the United Arab Emirates Golden jubilee celebration. In preparation for the expo, the government has established a national committee for the expo, comprised of representatives from government agencies, academia cilvil society and the private sector. Sharon Brennen-Haylock, the director general of the Bahamas Foreign Service, will chair the committee.

“This is part of our foreign policy outreach decision that was made at the start of this term,” Mr Mitchell said. “We indicated that we were doing an outreach in the far east, namely China and the Middle East. We had indicated that there were three counties that we had identified there, namely Qatar, the United Arab Emirates of which Dubai is a part of and Saudi Arabia.

“The reason why we chose those countries is because they have excellent relations with the west and the United States.

“Secondly our country is in need of capital and the far east, China in particular and the Middle East, are areas of surplus capital.

“When you are hunting for capital you want to make an impression on those who have it, that The Bahamas is a good place to invest.

“The other thing we want to do is show The Bahamas is a good place for tourism. Thats our number one sector. The question is whether the Bahamas can use the opportunity as a means of attracting capital and putting itself on the map as far as tourism is concerned; those are the two main objectives.”

A construction design competition will be open to students of the College of The Bahamas for the Bahamas’ pavilion at the expo. Expo Live is a EUR 100 million programme which aims to create partnerships and incentivise new solutions or scale up existing solutions that could benefit the lives of millions around the world. Mr Mitchell noted that any Bahamian can participate in Expo Live and submit their ideas to be critiqued and possibly funded for display at the expo.

Tony Joudi, The Bahamas’ non-resident ambassador of The Bahamas to Qatar who serves as the Commissioner General in United Arab Emirates for the Expo 2020, said:  “This will put The Bahamas on the world map. We are trying to expose what our capabilities are and what our culture is about. This is an opportunity to brand our country and make sure that this country is on par with all other major players in the word.”